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Jo Jensen '07 2006 Convocation Address

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 - 9:14am

Jo Jensen '07September 6, 2006

Good morning! I'm Jo Jensen, president of the Student Government Association.
First, I would like to again extend a warm welcome to the first-years. A welcome
back to the sophomores and juniors. And to the seniors--I can't believe we
have made it this far!

Convocation is the first time we get a chance to come
together as a community, before all of the chaos of the school year begins.
I'm excited for the adventures
ahead of all of us. For the first-years it will be getting acquainted with
the campus; for the sophomores it will be learning your new role as returning
members to campus; and the juniors will learn to cope with a large percentage
of their class studying abroad this semester and in the spring. Now, for
the seniors, our new adventure and challenge will be cherishing the time left
that
we have as students at Mount Holyoke. As always, we have Mount Holyoke's
outstanding faculty, staff, and administration to guide us on our journey this
year.

You will be pleased to know that your Student Government Association
is stronger and more visible than ever this year! One of our major goals is
to bring
the senate to students by listening and connecting with the community.
This means
that your SGA is extremely accessible and student friendly--so I strongly
encourage you to come to us with your comments and concerns--we are here
to help you
and can work on improving our campus together! Next, we are going to nurture
campuswide appreciation of student contributions. So what does that mean
for you? It means that SGA is going to be at your events--we will be at
sports games, theatre productions, art exhibits, and music and dance performances.
Mount Holyoke has phenomenal student organizations, like our Class Boards,
La Unidad, Model United Nations, Renegades, and the equestrian and rugby
teams,
just to name a few. I know that all of our campus orgs also have terrific
events--but you need to do your part and let us know about them. Every
student
is welcome
to attend our SGA senate meetings, and I encourage all of you to come to
senate on Tuesday nights and publicize your events during the announcement
section!
Additionally, we are also working hard to condense, enhance, and refine
internal SGA processes. Basically, we are open to change and are eager to try
different
approaches to make ourselves and policies more visible. Furthermore, SGA
values our campus's diversity, and we will continue the initiatives set
forth by the
Diverse Community Commission--that's why SGA will play a stronger role
in actively supporting awareness months.

On Sunday, I had to opportunity to
welcome the first-years, and I gave them a bit of advice that I think is
appropriate for the entire campus
to hear.
I told them that when heading into this year, they should approach academics,
their classmates, student organizations, and life pursuits with an open
mind. Regardless of our age and class year, we can always strive to be
better and
continue to expand our horizons. I also told them that I hoped that they
would learn from their time here that failing isn't really failure--it's
a learning
process. I know that this lesson certainly took me a while but that Mount
Holyoke has taught me that taking a risk, a chance at my dream, going
after my goal
is the best way to grow--and I stand before you today, not as the naive
and shy first-year that I was--but as a confident, well-rounded Mount
Holyoke woman. Let's have a fantastic year filled with adventures, fun, and
new
friends.
And
seniors--it's our last, so let's make this one really count! Thank you.